New Beginnings
by easyqueenie
Summary: Mulder & Scully have been together a few months but Mulder gets a shock when he arrives at her door one Saturday morning. Is everything always the way it seems on the surface?
1. Chapter 1

Rating: R

Category: MSR, RST

Spoilers: All Things

Archive: Go for it..

Feedback: Hell yes!

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Mulder walked down the hallway towards Scully's door, carrying a parcel wrapped in brown paper. He had a goofy grin plastered across his face and was practically bouncing on his feet, he was excited about surprising her by showing up this morning. He couldn't remember ever feeling this happy and carefree, for a moment he contemplated actually skipping, until he saw Mrs Lowenstein, Scully's elderly neighbour exiting her apartment up ahead and decided he didn't need to make an ass of himself quite this early on a Saturday morning. As he walked, he lost himself in thought. He and Scully had moved their relationship on from purely platonic almost three months ago and since then he had been floating about in a haze of happiness. Not many people knew about the change; Maggie, the Gunmen, Scully's best friend Kathy. Mulder suspected that Skinner knew, judging by the looks he kept shooting at him when Scully's back was turned, he'd even winked once, but that was it. The rest of the Bureau had their suspicions of course, but that was no different from the past seven years.

Mulder didn't really remember what triggered the change, and if he was honest with himself, he didn't really care now that Scully was his girlfriend. God he hated that word, it made them sound about fourteen years old, but it was true. She'd even heard him use it and hadn't gotten mad at him. Instead she had her revenge by calling him her boyfriend in public and once to the Gunmen who had made it their mission to mock him at every available opportunity. Last night had been a case in point. Mulder had gone out with them for cheese steaks and a few games of bowling, Scully hadn't come, claiming she wanted a night relaxing at home and calling up Kathy for a chat. Mulder hadn't wanted to think what that chat would include and had gone out with the guys who kept asking if he'd be allowed to come out once Scully forced a ring on his finger. Of course Mulder knew it was all in good humour, the Gunmen loved Scully and were delighted not to be having to deal with any more of Mulder's whining as they called it.

Finally, he arrived at Scully's door and knocked. He waited a few moments before the door opened and the smile he was wearing fell to the floor. Instead of Scully, a man stood in the doorframe wearing nothing but black suit pants. His hair looked messy and he was clearly very tired, it was obvious to Mulder that whoever this man was, he hadn't gotten very much sleep the night before. The two men stared at each other for a moment, neither seeming to know what to say. The stranger was first to break the silence,

"Fox Mulder?" he questioned, the man seemed nervous.

"Who the hell are you?" Mulder replied in a voice far more dark and dangerous than he had intended to use. The man before him shifted uncomfortably for a second but never got chance to reply.

"Mike, who was at the door?" came Scully's voice as she appeared behind him in the living room. Mulder took in her appearance and felt the anger; hurt and betrayal begin to course through his blood, burning up his muscles and making his skin feel like fire. She obviously hadn't slept much either. She was still wearing her makeup from last night, now smudged and blotchy on her face. Her hair was un-brushed and messy and she was wearing a man's dress shirt over her pyjamas, it wasn't one of his. Scully's eyes met Mulder's and she realised exactly what she was seeing, the two men still stood facing one another in her doorway. As the burning reached Mulder's eyes and consumed his entire body, he saw the look of panic spread across her face.


	2. Chapter 2

"Mulder?" Scully practically whispered, "What are you doing here?"

"I don't think that's the most important question right now, do you?" he replied, glaring harshly at her, " I was planning to surprise you this morning." He looked around at Mike; "I see it's me who's getting the surprise."

"This isn't what it looks like," she began but he cut her off,

"It better not be because I can tell you exactly what it looks like from where I'm standing," he almost shouted. He was about to continue when a high pitched shriek emanated from behind Scully and a toddler ran out of her bedroom holding a cuddly blue rabbit and giggling madly.

"Dadadadada!" the child squealed as he spotted Mike, running toward him and flinging into his legs with enough force to knock him back several steps. The child caught sight of Mulder and shot him a brief suspicious glance before turning back to his father. Mulder turned back to Scully and stared at her;

"Explain. Now." he said levelly.

"Can we talk in my bedroom?" She asked quietly, indicating the toddler who was now bouncing the rabbit against his dad's thigh. Mulder nodded.

"Should we leave Dana?" the man asked as she turned towards her room. Mulder felt the rage and jealousy he was trying to keep under control bubble up again; who the hell was this guy to think he could call her Dana in front of him? Impertinent bastard. He heard Scully telling Mike not to leave, that she would get everything smoothed out and telling him where to find some porridge oats for the little boy whose name was revealed to be Joel. She led Mulder to her bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed looking at him as he closed the door. He simply stared at her, trying to see through her, into her mind.

"Mulder, Mike is…" she started but Mulder cut her off again.

"Have you slept with him?"

"What?"

"You heard me, have you slept with him?" Mulder repeated, louder than before.

"No, I…" she started but Mulder could see from her face that she was lying; she couldn't keep a secret from him to save her life.

"Liar!" he shouted at her, refusing to let the tears he wanted to shed come as he saw them well up in her eyes. "Tell me the truth Scully!"

"I didn't sleep with him last night!" she shouted back at him, "I would never betray you like that."

"Like that?" he asked, repeating her tone back at her, "how would you betray me exactly then?"

"I didn't mean it like that!" she managed to utter between sobs as the tears began streaming down her cheeks.

"Don't give me this shit," Mulder spat at her. "So if you didn't sleep with him last night, when was it Scully? Last weekend when you said you were meeting Kathy at the cinema? When?" Scully looked up at him and took a deep breath.

"It was sixteen years ago" she said quietly. Mulder simply stared; of all the answers he had been expecting, that was not one of them.


	3. Chapter 3

After a few moments, Mulder crossed the room and sat down on the bed beside Scully, placing the package behind her. He could feel her trembling beside him, reaching out he rested his hand on her leg causing her to jump slightly; she looked up at him nervously through her eyelashes.

"OK," he began "I'm listening. Clearly there's more going on here than I first thought. Tell me." Scully swallowed, clearly trying to work out the best point to begin from.

"Mike is an old college friend, an old boyfriend to be exact" she started. "He and I went to med school together. We dated for about a year but grew apart, we split up before I graduated and went to Quantico. We've always kept in touch but not much, just Christmas cards, I sent a present when his son was born, that kind of thing." Mulder nodded.

"Mike's been married about ten years now, he and Katie live about a half hour away. Well last night, they were out at a dinner party and…" she faltered a little, upset by her story; Mulder squeezed her leg. "They were at this party and Katie had a bit too much to drink, she stood up at the table and announced to everyone that she's been having an affair with a guy at her office for the last nine months. Absolutely tore Mike apart, he had no idea. She just laid into him, told him he was a useless father, a lousy husband, everything you can imagine." Mulder felt the first twang of pity for the man in the other room.

"She said she never wanted to see him again. He didn't know what to do, she left the party laughing, all their friends were there and he was completely humiliated. He just got in the car and drove home to pay the babysitter but then he realised that he'd never looked after Joel by himself so he panicked, began to think everything Katie said was true. He was so embarrassed he didn't want to call anyone and admit that he actually didn't know what to do with Joel when he woke up – they'd all been at that party and heard what Katie said, then he remembered that I live nearby and that I'd mentioned looking after my nephew a few times. He rang me at ten last night in such a state, I just told him to come over here with Joel."

Mulder put his arm around Scully and hugged her. He felt guilty for jumping to such an awful conclusion so quickly, he was better than that, or at least she was. For a while they simply sat there together until Scully pulled herself free and announced that she'd better go check on Mike. Mulder stood up and followed her at a distance, lingering by the bedroom door to watch as she praised Joel for eating all his breakfast and checked if Mike had eaten yet. As she turned to make some toast for the three adults, Mike met Mulder's eye. They looked at each other for a few moments before Mulder nodded slightly acknowledging his acceptance. He crossed the room and shook Mike's hand, the two men both unsure of exactly what to say,

"Nice to finally meet you Mr Mulder, "Mike managed, "Dana's mentioned you every time we've spoken for a good few years now."

"Nothing good I hope?" Mulder quipped. Mike managed a slight laugh as Scully brought over the toast, having seated Joel on her couch in front of a cartoon.

"I'm not sure I want you two talking too much" she said, smiling at them both. "Agent Mulder does not need access to college stories of mine."

"Oh yes he does!" Mulder laughed, his eyes lighting up at the prospect. Mike was properly laughing now.

"We'll have to get together and I'll tell you some" Mike replied, a wicked grin on his face as he looked at Scully, who winced. "I may even have some pictures buried in a shoebox somewhere. Plus I think you definitely need to hear about the night someone gave Dana tequila shots in the bar just off campus, I know I'll never forget it." Scully hit his arm, attempting to make him shut up, it worked but Mike gave Mulder a wink as he turned to walk over and sit by his son.

"Tequila shots huh Scully?" Mulder asked, grinning as he munched on his toast, "would never have pegged you as the shots type." He elbowed her in the ribs.

"Never again," Scully muttered, shooting him a significant look.

A few hours later, things had settled down a lot more at Scully's apartment. She had sorted through the large bag Mike had hastily thrown together the previous night and made sure he knew all the basics. Joel attended nursery on weekdays so that took care of a lot of the time, Mike knew how to handle bath time and Scully made sure he understood more about feeding a two year old. As it turned out, Mike knew a lot more about taking care of his son that he had thought he did in his late night panic. After lunch, Scully had found herself sat on the living room floor drawing pictures on some scrap paper with Joel whilst Mulder & Mike chatted on her couch. The two men shared a passion for baseball and both were avid basketball players whenever they found time. Scully had also been surprised to hear that Mike was considerably open minded toward many of the crazy ideas that populated her partner's mind. After a short period of time, the two men were trading theories on the nature of the Bermuda Triangle with gusto. Eventually Mike brought the conversation to a close and turned to Scully.

"I'd better head back home" he announced, looking less than thrilled at the prospect. "I want to get things in order tomorrow ready for next week." Scully stood up and hugged him.

"OK, you take care of yourself and this little one. Keep in touch won't you?"

"Yeah," Mulder agreed, standing up to shake Mike's hand "Listen how about we get together for dinner next weekend, I'd like to get to know you better."

"Yeah I bet" Scully mumbled darkly.

"Sounds good" Mike said with a hint of a smile, "I'll probably be in need of a good meal with some friendly faces by the time this week is over."

"It'll get easier" Mulder told him. As a child of divorce, Mulder had seen it all unfold before. Mike nodded but didn't look entirely convinced.

"I suppose when your world falls apart, anything that happens next will be easier?" he conceded, looking meaningfully at Scully who nodded sadly.

Mulder and Scully helped Mike pick up his and Joel's belongings from where they had been scattered across Scully's apartment. He packed the two bags he had with him and they waved him off at the door, telling him to keep strong and Scully adding to call if he needed to. Finally they shut the door and Scully collapsed onto her couch, looking crestfallen. Mulder stood looking at her then remembered,

"I brought you something" he told her, fetching the package from where he had left it on her bed hours earlier. He handed it to her and knelt beside the couch. Scully sat up and opened the package, smiling hugely when she saw the contents.

"Oh Mulder you shouldn't have" she smiled, reaching out to him as he embraced her in a hug.

"I'm sorry" he whispered into her hair.

"It's ok" she whispered back as he pulled her into his arms for as long as they wanted.


End file.
